Yamakaji
by Synathidy
Summary: The continued adventures of Sean and Rayf, along with the new and familiar friends they meet as they are drawn into an unsettling mystery which leads to some disturbing revelations.


Chapter 1

Ashes

Violent scratches and gashes marked a chaotic, meandering trail of rage down the hallway, interrupting the sterile atmosphere of the cold metal walls and the eerily pale lights built into the ceiling which illuminated the building. There were even some places where the marks moved onto the walls, as if something had been careening out of control and rebounding off of them as it rampaged down the passage.

Following this trail was a tall, shrewd-looking woman of about 30 wearing a white lab coat and heels which clicked to the impatiently brisk pace at which she walked. Her long blond hair was tied in a large bun and her amber-colored eyes stared critically ahead of her from behind a pair of angular glasses. To her side and slightly behind her walked a younger man of slight build wearing a black uniform complete with boots and gloves, the only color on his clothing a large, red letter "R" on his chest. He had straight black hair reaching down to his shoulders which contrasted strongly with his blue eyes and he wore an unsettled, slightly nervous expression as he tried to keep up with the woman's frantic pace.

After turning around a corner, she noticed something on the floor which caused her to ease to a relaxed stop, while the man behind her was startled into stepping backwards and gasping at the sight before them.

Blood was abstractly splattered on the walls and pooled across a good portion of the hallway floor. Sprawled out in the blood or propped up against the wall were four severely mutilated figures, apparently of what HAD been two people, a Golduck, and an Arcanine. The faces of the two humans were impossible to identify, but their ripped up clothing seemed to match the uniform of the dark-haired man who now stood before them. The carcasses of both them and the Pokémon were at least partly, if not mostly, dismembered and riddled with deep lacerations.

The woman walked up to a webbed Golduck hand which had been separated from the Pokémon and was twisted into a tortured, hyper-extended gesture. With one hand casually placed a pocket on the side of her lab coat, she looked down at the hand and lightly nudged it with the toe of one shoe.

"Hmph," she smiled slightly as if amused and then looked back up at the rest of the massacre, her cold countenance not changing or showing the slightest sign ofdisturbance. "It seems our little experiment is a success after all. However..." her eyes narrowed. "We're clearly going to need to reinforce the cell... at least until I'm able to stabilize the formula so that we can have complete control over when the transformations happen."

The man behind her was still trying to recover from the initial shock of seeing the bloody carnage. "... How... how could it have done this to two of the strongest guards in this facility and their best Pokémon?"

The woman looked pleased with herself as she answered him.

"NOTHING can stop the vicious ferocity I've brought out in our beastly little friend. Who knew he had such potential?" she laughed to herself. "And we will soon have the means to ensure that ALL of the Pokémon used by our organization are similarly... gifted." She enunciated the last word with slow gratification.

Finally recovering a bit from his stupor, the man in black turned his concerned blue eyes toward the woman.

"But Professor Shiare, how can any of us ever possibly CONTROL a creature like this? That thing only knows how to kill, and it doesn't care WHO it shreds to pieces!"

Prof. Shiare turned toward the man with a critical expression.

"It ISN'T your place to ask questions, Sven! Your only duty is to do exactly as I TELL you!" She scolded him in a sharp tone.

Sven knew his comments had been out of line and became silent. Prof. Shiare looked further down the hallway to where the chaotic trail of scratches continued along with large paw prints made in blood. At the end of the hallway, the trail went up a passage of stairs in which the metal walls seemed to transition into a much older and dilapidated material.

"I WILL perfect the formula so that we can control it," Prof. Shiare seemed irritated by Sven's reminder that her experiment still required more work. "But back to the issue at hand! It's escaped outside now, and there's no telling how far it may have already gone. Hopefully it doesn't attract too much attention by wandering into any towns." She looked back at Sven and crossed her arms. "You'll need to go fetch it."

Sven looked stunned. "I can't CAPTURE it! It'll just do to me and MY Pokémon what it did to THEM," he gestured toward the gruesome human and Pokémon remains on the floor, "and you'll be down one more guard for this already sparsely-manned place!"

"You WILL find it and bring it back, or I'll make YOU my next test subject!"

Sven backed away a small step away from Prof. Shiare. He wouldn't have put the threat past the cruel, demented scientist.

"Its genetic structure is still unstable" Prof. Shiare continued in a slightly calmer voice. "Remember that the evolution is sporadic and temporary. Just hope that by the time you find it it transforms back into its normal state. If it's still evolved, you'll need to keep your distance until it reverts."

"Whatever you say..." Sven submitted reluctantly. He walked forward, stepping gingerly through the large puddle of blood as he tried to avoid stepping on any body parts. His boots made their own bloody prints as he got past the literal bloodbath and began to run until he disappeared up the stairway.

Prof. Shiare, now alone, returned to staring at the slaughter in front of her.

"Oh, am I EVER so anxious to see this side of you in person, my feisty little lab-beast!"

She was then snapped out of her revelry as her attention was drawn to a beeping sound from a watch on her wrist.

"My, how time flies with all this excitement," she said to herself glancing at the watch's digital display. "It's already time to visit my favorite specimen again!"

She snickered gleefully and turned to walk briskly back down the hallway, proceeding to take an obscure passage through a series of corridors and heavily locked doors, utilizing a key card to unlock each one. After several minutes, she arrived at a door with a small, tempered glass window and a keypad locking mechanism. After mechanically typing in a code which she had typed out hundreds of times before, the metal locks slid back and the door automatically opened.

Prof. Shiare sauntered into the small, dimly lit cell, stopping to stare smugly at a figure who was curled up on the cold floor and leaning against the wall, limbs tied to the wall and floor by sturdy metal cords. The figure's head turned slightly to regard her.

"It's our favorite time of the month again," she mocked deviously. "Now then, will this..." she took a syringe out of her lab coat pocket and held it up for

the figure to see. "...still be necessary, or can you be a little cooperative for once?"

Her addressee only responded by glaring back at her with cold eyes filled with hatred.

"I'll take that as a no," Prof. Shiare inferred. "All right then," she sighed. "We'll do it your way... like always."

She laughed with sadistic pleasure as she approached the figure with the syringe in hand to begin a routine which both of them had drilled into their minds, but which was relished with sick pleasure by one of them, and dreaded intensely by the other.

* * *

Chapter 2

Relapse

Sean stared at the ground with his hands in his pockets as he gloomily scraped his feet down a deserted path in Lavender Town. He always walked this way when he was depressed.

His newly befriended Cubone, whom he had decided to name Fracture because of the prominent crack in its skull helmet, walked by his side. While Sean often traveled with ALL of his Pokémon out of their Poké Balls, he liked to spend a bit of one-on-one bonding time alone with his new team members at first. Fracture made an uncanny imitation of the sullen gait and mood of his trainer. Once again, Sean was moping.

Earlier that day he had arrived in Lavender with Rayf. At the time he had been in the best mood in his recent memory, happy to be with the only actual friend he had made in his life. He didn't know why, but after being with Rayf for a while, some part of him had unconsciously assumed that the two of them would stay together indefinitely, even though no such promise had been made. Instead, Rayf had politely wished Sean the best of luck on his journey and then went on his own way to tend some things at Pokémon House where he volunteered. Sean had kept his shock to himself at the time, putting on the same show of gaiety he used with everyone else he came across in his life. But inside, he was crushed. He had felt that there was something special about Rayf, as if he had finally met the one person he was meant to be friends with after being so terribly lonely for all his life. Now his cruel perception of reality was allowed to set in.

He thought about how stupid he was to have assumed that someone would want to travel together or be with him at all. How could he have been so conceited to have taken it for granted that he was someone Rayf would want to be around? He didn't blame Rayf at all for leaving him. He was a pathetic, depressed weirdo. Why would anyone ever want to be friends such a person?

It was now evening and the sun was setting, blanketing the quaint, rustic little town with an orange tint that cast the long, surreal shadows of trees with barren branches across the desolate path Sean walked on. The black shadows set against the orange glow of the sun on the ground reminded him of the jagged black and white shapes which had flashed across his vision in Rock Tunnel, causing him to shudder as he noticed them. He shuddered even more due to the cold when a chilly gust of wind kicked up, causing the trees and their shadows to sway slowly. He was just thankful that the wind couldn't make the trees sway fast enough to make the shadows move as fast as the ones in his disturbing vision.

While it was still late in the summer in most places, autumn had already begun to set in at the high elevation Lavender was at, nestled at the foot of the mountains where Rock Tunnel was.

Perhaps it was partly a desire for shelter against the cold evening winds that attracted Sean to Pokémon Tower, which now loomed ahead of him as the only building in the area he had wandered into. However, the depression that had caused him to so recklessly enter Rock Tunnel was also likely at work.

He didn't have any reason to venture into the tower, and knew that he SHOULD have felt repulsed by the idea of being anywhere NEAR a dangerous place reputedly swarming with ghosts after his experience in Rock Tunnel. But in his lonely depressions he became careless and convinced that nobody cared about what happened to him. And what reason did he have to care for himself if nobody else cared? It wasn't as if anyone would NOTICE if he disappeared off the face of the planet. He mused to himself how much he had in common with the invisible ghosts known to inhabit Pokémon Tower.

He now had come to the double doors of the old building. He stared up at its weathered walls of huge stone bricks, which were wet and covered with patches of moss on the bottom couple of stories. Windows were sparse on each of the several stories, and the glass in them was either smashed, or clouded over with years of age and dirt.

A sign posted next to the entrance read "All who enter are responsible for their own safety in Pokémon Tower. Enter at your own risk!" Sean laughed a little to himself at the novelty of seeing such a sign. He never thought he would encounter such a warning outside of cheesy horror movies.

He pushed on one of the ancient-looking wooden doors, finding that it took quite an effort to make it budge. As it opened, the hinges made a low-pitched creaking noise which echoed in the large space of the interior. Fracture followed close by Sean's side as he stepped inside.

* * *

Chapter 3

Mark

The first thing Sean noticed was a prominent, old musty smell. The orange light of the sunset outside shined dimly through the tint of the cloudy windows on the floor level, lending an otherworldly light to the open space that illuminated things enough to see across the room, but not enough to see anything in the shadowy corners. From what he COULD see, the floor level was dedicated completely to the graves of deceased Pokémon, as rows of tombstones lined the entire room.

It wasn't until he began to walk to his right, making his way around the perimeter to where he could see a stairway to the next level, that he noticed a still, gray mist that seemed to rise up out of the floor all over the room for three or four feet. It made the lower half of his body feel notably cooler and damper than his upper half. Thinking little of it, he continued up the winding wooden stairs to the next level, Fracture following with a bit of difficulty due to his short legs.

The second floor was much the same as the first, only the mist was a little thinner, and there were fewer tombstones. Sean figured that the interments were made starting from the bottom up, and were thus fewer in number further up the tower.

The entire building seemed dead, and Sean's light footsteps stood out against the stifling silence that pervaded it. His mind was distant as he walked, indifferent to, and almost unaware of, his surroundings. His thoughts were blank, and instead of the sadness he had recently felt, there was the familiar absence of all feeling which made him feel empty and numb to everything. Fracture kept silent, afraid of disturbing his trainer, but looked up at him with slight worry.

Now Sean was ascending another stairway up to the third floor. Upon reaching it, he noted different surroundings which brought him back to reality a little. This room had no tombstones he could see immediately, and was shrouded in a thicker mist which seemed to swirl around and move a little more than the mist on the lower levels.

The waning sunlight which filtered through a couple windows did little to penetrate through the fog, but he could make out many old boxes and odd pieces of antique furniture spread out and stacked up all over the place, cluttering up most of the room, save for a vague path through the center.

Apparently this floor was used for storage, or simply as a place to keep junk. Sean guessed that the higher floors were messier and in greater disrepair than the bottom ones since most people were likely too afraid to climb very high, and didn't have any reason to do so anyway.

He made his way more cautiously and slowly through the fog-enshrouded debris, both to avoid tripping, and because he felt more uneasy on this floor. Why would the mist have become thinner on the second floor, and then suddenly thicker on the next floor? It didn't make any sense. Besides that, the silence here didn't feel as dead and suffocating as before. It was just as quiet as the first two floors, but somehow the silence in this space felt... alive...

Once he was near the middle of the room, Sean began to note a gradual change in the visibility. The mist now seemed to be gathering around him, and it soon became impossible to see anything. He stood still, thinking it might dissipate, but it remained, and all he could see was gray... It felt as if the foggy substance was clinging to him and stealing his body heat, and he began to feel increasingly tired and sleepy...

Then he heard the exclamations of a female voice, muted through his groggy senses at first, and then stronger and more clear.

"Honestly, how many times do I have to tell you to stop putting people to sleep? Come on now, leave him alone!"

"Gaaastly..." Sean heard a creepy, wavering voice that seemed to mutter from all around him.

As the mist around him finally began to clear, his surroundings became more clear than they had been when he first entered the room. After looking near his feet to make sure Fracture was still with him, he glanced up and saw the person who had spoken standing a across the room from him.

She had thick, flowing red hair, bright blue eyes, and wore a peculiar-looking pendent which resembled a claw of some sort suspended from a necklace. Her long-sleeved shirt was a pale shade of blue and she wore loose jeans. She had a calm and collected demeanor as she approached Sean.

"Pardon the Gastly. They like to play around with people and don't really realize what they're doing when they envelope someone in gas," she casually explained. "I must say, though—"

She broke off and stopped suddenly, pausing as if she had just discovered something shocking. All she could do for a long moment was gaze intently at Sean, who returned a puzzled look. She finally gathered herself to speak, but her expression had become more serious.

"... it's very dangerous for one like YOU to be alone in a place like this," she almost snapped in a harsher tone. "Why did you come here?"

Sean wondered what she meant, but replied with the moodiness he had been feeling before he entered the tower.

"No reason... just out for a walk," he stated tersely.

The girl continued to stare intently at him, which Sean found a little unnerving.

"Wandering around this place is risky for most, but ESPECIALLY for YOU," she cautioned him.

"What do you mean? You don't even know me," Sean said with a bit of disturbance audible in his voice.

He now felt as if her eyes saw THROUGH his very being.

"But I know what's HAPPENED to you... psychic encounters like yours leave long-lasting imprints on the mind... imprints which attract ghosts just as a bee's sting signals others of its kind to attack as well..."

Sean was speechless for a moment. How could someone he'd never seen before know about what had happened to him? Just who WAS this person?

* * *

Chapter 4

Vapor

"... Uhh... how...—"

"Do I know about your condition?" the mysterious girl confidently completed Sean's fumbling attempt to ask her a question. "I'm psychic. I can sense things like that," she stated simply with a slight smile. My name's Raili. What's your name?"

Sean had half-expected her to know his name as well, but apparently she didn't know EVERYTHING about him.

"Sean..." he answered in a hesitant tone. He was a little distrustful of this person who had conveniently appeared out of nowhere. "Umm... what did you mean when you said 'condition'?"

"You mean you haven't noticed any lingering effects?" Raili stared at him with surprise. "Victims of psychic attacks almost ALWAYS later experience some sort of unpleasant... symptoms," her voice became slightly ominous on the last word.

Sean then remembered the disturbing visions from before which he had TRIED to forget about.

"Well, actually, there IS something... I've been seeing visions of jagged, fast-moving shapes... ever since it happened... I don't know what they are... and I'm honestly a little afraid to find out..." Sean trailed off as he became increasingly self-conscious of how strange his account sounded.

Raili listened to his description intently, remaining silent in thought for a long moment. She then gently reached out an open hand toward Sean.

"Give me your hand for a moment," she told him softly, reaching out her own open hand.

Sean didn't know what Raili had in mind, but didn't see what harm there was in playing along. He slowly reached out his hand and allowed Raili to gently clasp it. He noticed that her hand was slightly warmer than his. Raili's eyes then closed, and her head bowed downward as if she was in a meditative trance. Sean couldn't tell what, if anything, she was doing, but waited patiently... then it happened.

He winced as familiar rushing shapes suddenly flashed across his sight for a mere second. Simultaneously, Raili gasped and opened her eyes as she let Sean's hand drop. Neither of them spoke for a period as they tried to recover from the brief, but disturbing, vision they had just shared. Once Sean's heartbeat finally was back to normal, Raili addressed him.

"I saw your vision... " she said gravely, staring into space and pausing as Sean anxiously followed every word. Her eyes refocused on Sean. "You shouldn't be alive."

Raili's flatly-uttered statement hit Sean like a cold blast of wind, chilling and shaking him to his core. He knew he COULD have died in Rock Tunnel, but not necessarily that he SHOULD have died. Were his visions really indications that he had come so close to death? It was beginning to occur more to him just how miraculous his survival may have really been.

Now Raili had gathered her thoughts and seemed to be considering something. She then glanced off to a corner of the room where there was a particularly dense pile of junk.

"Come on out now," she coaxed. "I've finally got a good use for you."

"Gaaaasstly?" The Gastly which had attacked Sean then emerged from behind a large antique closet, this time with its gaseous body condensed into its true form. It sheepishly floated over to where Raili was standing.

"Good! You didn't run away," Raili praised the ghost Pokémon. "See this trainer here?" she gestured toward Sean. "I want you to stick with him from now on, okay?"

The Gastly stared mischievously at him, making him feel a bit uncomfortable, to say the least. Considering his previous experience, Sean wasn't thrilled about the idea of traveling with ANY ghost Pokémon, let alone one that had attacked him, even if it HAD only been playing.

"Wait a minute," he held up his hands as if trying to push away any such proposal. "Why do you want that thing to go with me after it already almost suffocated me?!"

Raili seemed puzzled, as if the answer should have been obvious.

"Because... I've known this Gastly a long time, and I know that it'll be more than capable of protecting you from any more psychic attacks. And trust me, with your fragile and damaged mental state, you really do NEED protection. A ghost Pokémon is simply the best option. Besides that," Raili looked fondly at the Gastly. "She really seems to like you! Isn't that so?" She turned to the Pokémon.

"Gaaaaaaasssss!" the Gastly cheerfully exclaimed as it began to swoop and swirl around Sean like a fish underwater, even winding through his legs and around Fracture, who was bewildered to see a ghost Pokémon for the first time. Sean tried not to make any sudden movements as he nervously watched the excited ghost's acrobatics.

"You're sure it won't try to... um... gas me again?"

"Oh no, no, no," Raili casually assured him. "She usually just likes to do that when she meets someone for the first time. And anyway, and as long as I'M with you, I doubt she'll try many more tricks like that."

Sean flinched. "What do you mean 'as long as you're with me'?" he suspiciously asked.

"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention it. I'll be coming along with you as well."

Sean was quite surprised, but in a way was also relieved that Raili wanted to accompany him. After all, he didn't want to be all alone with the Gastly.

"That way I'll be able to help you out if you have any trouble... managing her," Raili continued as she kept her eyes on the Gastly. "Aside from that, it's a good idea for me to come so that I can monitor your psyche. I'm concerned that your mind may be... how can I put this... unstable."

Sean couldn't argue with the points she made. He didn't even feel that his mind had been anything remotely close to "stable" BEFORE he was attacked. Antisocial, depressed, semi-suicidal... Sean thought of all the psychological problems he had suffered from. He could hardly call himself mentally well-off in any way whatsoever...

As the two of them descended back down to the entrance of Pokémon Tower, Sean followed behind Raili, whose presence, he found, made the eerie surroundings and fog of the tower seem much less unsettling. He also reflected on what it would be like traveling with the company of Raili and the Gastly, which floated along by his side, appearing and disappearing erratically and surprising him every now and then by materializing directly in front of his face as he walked. He wasn't sure whether he was safer, or in more danger with the impish ghost Pokémon.

"Sean..." Raili broke the silence and looked slightly over her shoulder at Sean to regard him out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah?" Sean responded meekly.

"You might want to start thinking up a name for that Gastly. I never named her, but now that she's going to be with a trainer, she should probably have one... it may help you two to get to know each other better," Raili cheerfully suggested.

Sean thought for a few moments. After considering the Gastly's penchant for horsing around with him, he decided on a name fairly easily.

"Harlequin," Sean said with a small smile as he watched the Gastly hovering near him. "I'll call her Harlequin."

"Hah..." Raili made a short but amused laugh of approval. "It suits her."

After another period of silence, Sean's mind began to dwell on more serious things. He began to wonder more about what Raili had said of his "condition," about the state of his mind, and whether his visions meant there was something serious wrong with him.

"Hey... Raili?" he asked shyly.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Can you tell me anything else about my visions? Are they something I should be worried about? And will they ever go away?" Sean asked in an almost child-like, anxious voice.

Raili came to a stop, causing Sean to stop as well. After letting out a long sigh, she turned to Sean, a mix of grimness and pity showing in her blue eyes.

"Unfortunately, even I can't tell you all that much. Every psychic phenomenon is unique, and the effects of psychic energies on the mind are largely unknown and unpredictable to say the least," she paused briefly as her eyes softened a little. "What I CAN tell you is that your mind will never again be exactly as it was before your attack."

Sean looked gravely down at the floor as her words began to sink in... never the same... would he be haunted by disturbing hallucinations for the rest of his life, or something worse?

"When I first approached you, I felt a deep abnormality in your mind... something I never sense in ordinary people..." Raili continued. "The mark that your attacker left on your mind is both prominent and permanent, but it's impossible to say whether its side effects... your visions... will ever end, or for how long they will continue... such effects can change and develop over time as well..."

Raili turned back forward to continue toward the large old doors of the tower's entrance, which they had now arrived at.

"And that's why I'm accompanying you," she said as she pulled open both doors, letting the twilight filter through the entrance and causing Sean to squint a little after being accustomed to the darkness inside. "The unpredictability of your situation is a good reason to have a psychic around... trust me."

* * *

Chapter 5

Reunion

After exiting Pokémon Tower, Sean decided to recall Fracture and Harlequin, sucking them both into their relatively new Poké Balls. As he and his new HUMAN companion began making their way down the path that led back into Lavender, he thought he saw a familiar figure running toward him. He recognized the person's voluminous pony tail more than any other feature... Sean's heart began beating faster for a moment as he realized that it was Rayf.

"Hey there, Sean!" Rayf shouted happily at Sean as he ran towards him, eventually slowing to a stop in front of him. "I'm so glad I caught you before you left town!" he said between panting breaths.

"Rayf!" Sean exclaimed in a pleasantly surprised tone. "How did you know to find me out here?"

Raili politely stood aside and let Sean catch up with his old acquaintance.

Rayf smirked. "I heard someone mention they saw a person heading for Pokémon Tower, and since I already know about your tendency to wander alone in dark, dangerous places... I figured it was you, hehe!" Rayf laughed lightly.

"I guess you know me pretty well, huh—" Sean was cut off as Rayf suddenly and unexpectedly embraced him in a hug.

"I can't believe we only last saw each other this morning! It feels like it's been so much longer than that!"

At first, Sean was a bit caught off guard by the hug, but soon smiled and relaxed. Truthfully, he was extremely relieved that his new friend had come for him.

When the two separated, Rayf noticed Raili, who had been fondly watching their reunion.

"Oh! Sorry!" Rayf apologized to Raili for ignoring her initially. "Who's this, Sean?"

"Oh... this is—"

"Raili," Raili interrupted Sean. "I helped Sean get out of a Gastly attack in Pokémon Tower, and now I'm traveling with him. I'm a psychic," she added with a smile.

"Wow, really?" Rayf asked in awe. "Thank you so much for looking after him!"

Sean couldn't help but blush a little at being talked about almost as if he was a young child in need of supervision.

"I'm Rayf," Rayf continued in a calmer, but still ecstatic voice. "I met Sean just a little while back, under pretty similar circumstances to yours, actually. Nice to meet you!"

Raili cocked her head curiously at Rayf.

"Similar circumstances?" she asked.

"I didn't tell you before Raili, but Rayf saved me when I was attacked by that ghost in Rock Tunnel," Sean explained. "If he hadn't come along, I probably wouldn't be here..." There was an awkward silence for a moment while Sean and Rayf exchanged friendly glances.

"You're lucky to have such a good friend," Raili said warmly, finally breaking the silence. Sean knew she was right.

"Anyway, Sean," Rayf started. "The reason I came to find you is that I wanted to ask you if I could travel with you on your journey." Sean's heart became a bit fluttery again. "I've been hanging around Lavender for so long... I think I'd like to see some new places... and what better way to do it than by going with my new best friend?"

Sean could hardly believe it. He was overwhelmed with relief and joy now that he knew how Rayf really felt, compared to his paranoid thoughts from before about why he THOUGHT Rayf had left him.

"Really? I mean... you really wanna come... with me?" Sean said feeling a bit flustered and awkward.

"Well that's what I SAID," Rayf answered playfully. "As long as you don't mind, I mean," he added, slightly self-consciously.

"No, of course not!" Sean tried to calm his voice down so as not to seem TOO excited. "...I'd like it if you came."

"Alright, then! I guess it'll be the three of us. The world's our oyster! So where to?"

"Ummmm," Sean thought for a moment. "I know that Saffron and Celadon are west of here, so we should probably go that direction, right?"

"Right," Raili agreed. "Saffron's probably about a two-day walk from here."

"Sounds like we have our heading," Rayf said. "But it's kinda late to be heading out on the road... How about we spend the night at the Pokémon House? It's a cozy little place and I know that nobody will mind if we crash there for a night. Then we can leave first thing tomorrow morning once we're well-rested."

Rayf had a good point, so Sean and Raili took him up on his offer and the three of them followed him to Pokémon House to get some rest.

The spacious, one-floor house had a very relaxed and open feel to it, casually furnished with a couple large, worn out couches, a simple table with a few chairs, one bed, and a tiny kitchen for preparing small meals. Luckily, its only occupants at the moment were a few homeless Pokémon. Right as they walked in, Sean noticed a Voltorb, apparently asleep on the floor, a Koffing idly floating around, and a Spearow perched on one of the chairs at the table.

"Speeeaar!" the Spearow squawked at their entrance.

"Don't mind these guys," Rayf gestured to the Pokémon. "Make yourselves at home, and when you're tired enough, just sleep wherever..." he casually welcomed Sean and Raili.

"Why, thank you," Raili said courteously.

Since it was already late and the sun had already set, it wasn't long before the three of them had settled in and fallen asleep surrounded by the free-roaming Pokémon.

* * *

Chapter 6

Cultivation

Hatred.

Hatred for the one who had betrayed him... hatred for the one who tortured him... hatred for his pointless fate...

Hatred was all that remained of him.

His hate had grown to the point that it had consumed all other emotions and all of his memories of ever being any other way. His anguish... his sorrow... THEY were USELESS symptoms of suffering that had only been allowed to rot away in his mind until the hatred finally eroded and devoured them away like a wildfire... The only pain left now was physical...

He could still remember the first procedure... what he had felt... saw... heard... and the sickness which followed...

He had felt strangely at peace... floating in the strange liquid which somehow felt slightly thicker than water and had a pale green tint. He couldn't see through it very well... everything outside looked green and blurry, but he could see that there was someone there, as a blurry white figure occasionally passed in front of him. And as he looked off to the side, there was something else... a smaller, purple blur...

All sounds were muted if audible at all...

Then there was a tingling feeling.

It began at the base of his neck, and slowly crept down his spine. At first it just made him feel cold and shiver slightly... But then a new sensation began. Intense waves of aching pain began shooting through his body, starting in his neck and then tortuously spreading outward to every inch of his body. He closed his eyes and felt like screaming, but his throat was paralyzed in shock and he was unable to do anything but tremble as the pain overwhelmed him.

Opening his eyes for a brief moment, he glimpsed the white blur outside again. It looked like light was coldly reflecting off of the figure's eyes...

... Then, unable to tolerate any more, all turned to black...

Time passed. He had no way of knowing how long he had been unconscious.

He awoke in plain, empty, dimly-lit room without any clue of where he really was...

He wanted to die.

Never had he felt so sick in his life.

It was as if his body was revolting against its own substance... as if his entire body was filled with a vile poison it wanted to cleanse itself of, but was unable to. He felt as if he was going to vomit all of his insides out... but could do nothing of the sort.

He would have welcomed death... but his body clung to life stubbornly, somehow holding on to existence while simultaneously rebelling against itself. He could imagine no worse torture in the world.

How many times had he endured this hellish routine...? And how long had it been since the first time...?

Time no longer had any significance or meaning. There was no variation and no let-up in the cycle of procedures... just a contstant stream of repeating agony which he had become totally lost in.

Reasons also no longer mattered.

Reasons for why he, and not someone else, was here... reasons for why no one had ever come to rescue him... reasons for why someone he had come to trust as a friend had deceived him...

He had become sick of fruitlessly wondering about these things LONG ago, and there was no longer any reason to care...

Then it began. SHE began doing something different to him... something which disrupted the predictable cycle... something which planted the first seeds of confusion and insecurity which had grown to corrupt his mind alongside the bodily corruption caused by the injections...

Each time it was over, he told himself it was in his imagination... just his mind's way of trying to fabricate variations in his unbearably repetitious existence for the sake of his sanity... it was too surreal to have really happened.

... But it continued. The time in between varied, but it would always happen again...

And as he was forced to accept the reality, he was forced to confront the feelings which he had initially run away from... strange feelings which twisted around in his mind to such an extent that he no longer knew himself... feelings which he became angry at, tried to deny, and push out of his head...

But like a poisonous fungus, they remained and continued to grow.

He no longer knew who... or what... he was.

* * *

Chapter 7

Spur

Five years ago...

Prof. Shiare was sitting at a desk, busily scribbling some kind of notes down in between glances at a dense sheet of scientific data.

A young, casually dressed teenager approached her gingerly, always wary of the woman's volatile nature.

"Well, have you found someone for my experiment yet?" She asked impatiently, not looking up from her busy work.

"... Yes... I think so," Sven reported nervously. "There's this kid I know... we don't know each other that well, but it shouldn't be too hard for me to get him to trust me and lead him here..."

"Excellent," Prof. Shiare anunciated calculatingly. "If you pull this off, Sven, I think we'll finally be able to make you an official member of this organization... I'm sure that will provide you with all the incentive you need to complete this mission now, won't it?"

"Yes, Professor," Sven answered with militant obediance.

"When you do bring him, be ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that no one else follows you or sees you come here. IS THAT CLEAR?"

"It's clear," Sven said meekly.

"Good. Now get out of my sight. I have important work to do."

As Sven turned to walk out of the room and away from the moody professor, he breathed a sigh of relief. As he walked down the corridor, he developed a malignant expression.

"Just wait, Gwyn, you little punk," he said bitterly to himself. "Iris's little pet is going to get a NEW owner."

* * *

Chapter 8

Blinds

Sean was sitting slumped forward on a couch, losing himself in his thoughts as usual.

For some reason, the rest of his surroundings weren't clear, seeming to fade into a white mist... This place was perfectly silent, and he was left completely alone.

His mind began to dwell on negative thoughts, inevitably as always.

Sure he had met a friend or two, but how long would it be before he was alone again like before...? It was only a matter of time... and what twisted new horrors did the future hold to continue tormenting his already-damaged mind... his recent joys were probably just a means to facilitate his continued torture, lifting him just high enough out of his past depression to not be suicidal for a while, only to be plunged back into it later...

Then a door opened in front of him that he somehow hadn't noticed at first, and Rayf and Raili walked slowly into the space in front of him.

Sean thought there was something odd about their demeanor... they looked at him with a mix of pity and fear and seemed to be deliberately keeping their distance from him, almost as if he was some sort of dangerous wild animal which had to be dealt with cautiously.

"Sean," Rayf began in a serious tone. "We know you've been through a lot up till now, but Raili and I have been talking and... well..." he forced his voice to sound happier. "You're not gonna have to worry about anything anymore, okay?"

Sean's heart just about stopped. Something felt wrong. SERIOUSLY wrong.

"Rayf's right," Raili matched his fake comforting tone, trying to sound friendly.

To Sean it felt like he was a small child being spoken to by two condescending adults.

"You'll never have to worry about ghosts or..." she paused awkwardly. "...seeing scary things, ever again!"

Sean just stared at them in shock. "What... what do you MEAN?"

"Just RELAX, Sean. Everything's gonna be OKAY," Rayf stressed.

"Why are you talking to me like this? What's going on?"

Rayf seemed to ignore his questions and continued in the same manner.

"We can still be friends, but now you have a really nice place to stay. A SAFE place."

The more Rayf emphasized certain words that were MEANT to be soothing, the more anxious Sean became.

"We have to go now, but don't worry," Raili said as the two of them began to back towards the door. "You'll be fine here."

Then when the two of them had their backs turned to Sean, he thought he saw something materialize right next to them for a split second. It was a vague dark shape, but Sean glimpsed it just long enough to see two red, faintly glowing hollow eyes staring directly at him. Raili and Rayf were totally oblivious to the figure, even though it was closer to them.

"Bye," Rayf said casually while looking at Sean over his shoulder.

Then the door slammed shut and as it did, his surroundings suddenly became clear, the mist disappearing.

Sean looked around him in horror.

The door now had a small barred window and the walls of the room were those of a padded cell. The couch he had been sitting on was instead a plain cot set against the wall.

Sean rushed up against the small window to look for his former companions, to see them slowly shrinking out of sight.

"Waaaiiit! Don't leave me alone! There's something in here with me! Something you didn't see!" His shouting was useless. They were gone. Now he was utterly alone again, save for the unearthly thing that was there with him, whatever it was.

Then as he was pressed up against the door to the cell he heard a deep, almost whispered grumbling noise behind him, which caused him to freeze. He could sense that there was something occupying the space directly behind him, but he was far too terrified to turn around and face it. Instead, he just closed his eyes as tight as he could shut them, praying the thing would go away.

This wasn't the best thing to do either, however, because it left him vulnerable to something else... something he was already familiar with...

Shocking him even more than usual because of how distracted he had been with the ominous figure, the blank darkness was once again ripped apart by the insidious jagged shapes.

* * *

Chapter 9

Intersection

Sean jerked awake with a gasp. He was sprawled out on the same couch he remembered sitting on just a short while ago, and a blanket he had been using was on the floor. His body was drenched in sweat. Now he realized he had thankfully been dreaming and sat up, the cold sweat chilling him.

He then noticed that there was a Growlithe lying at the end of the couch on his feet, cocking its head curiously at him. It had probably been startled by his sudden gasp as he snapped out of his terrible dream. He smiled faintly at it and it laid its head back down across his legs to sleep while making a cute groaning sound. Rayf HAD mentioned that the Pokémon taking refuge here were pretty much allowed to lounge about the place as freely as they wished.

Well, THAT was probably one of the worst nightmares I've had... Sean thought to himself.

One of his worst fears was having people treat him like he was crazy—ESPECIALLY when there was some malevolent threat to him which only HE could see. This fear was rooted in nightmares he had had as a child, in which his parents laughed off his fear of a monster, which only HE could see, as the figment of an over-active imagination. Now it was his new friends who played this role...

Sean looked out the window of Pokémon House and saw that it was still dark outside. He HATED waking up in the middle of the night like this because he could never get back to sleep and ended up being tired all of the following day. So, much like he had in the beginning of his nightmare, he sat on the couch and thought quietly to himself until morning came. While most people would probably think this was a good way to die of boredom, Sean had never had any difficulty burning up very long periods of time this way.

Once it was morning and Rayf and Raili had gotten up, the three of them had a quick breakfast and set out promptly. It was a cloudy, average day, but Sean was even quieter than usual as they were walking out of town. He trailed a little behind his two traveling companions.

"Ahhh, nothing like starting out fresh after a good night's sleep," Rayf said contentedly. "Did you two sleep well?"

"I did," Raili chimed in. "Thank you both for letting me sleep on the only bed available. It was quite comfy!"

"Don't mention it," Rayf said politely. "How about you, Sean?"

"I slept good," he said somewhat vacantly.

"You don't sound that convincing," Rayf raised an eyebrow at Sean. "What, was the room service bad or something?"

"I just don't sleep well sometimes. There's no reason for it or anything..."

Sean didn't want to seem like any more of a basket case than he already was by sharing his paranoid dreams.

"If you say so," Rayf said, glancing at him. But if anything ever IS bothering you, don't hesitate to talk to us about it, okay? Don't make me worry about you..."

Sean got the feeling that Rayf knew he wasn't telling the whole truth. Rayf seemed to have a way of always knowing when something was bothering him. And even though Sean didn't feel like being very open about his problems most of the time, it made him feel good somehow that Rayf was so receptive of his mood changes. It was like having an attentive guardian angel watching over him, intent on making sure he was always safe and sound.

As the day went on, their path gradually became engulfed by woods which seemed to become thicker as they walked. Sean remained quiet for the most part, but Rayf and Raili struck up small conversations occasionally as they became better acquainted. As a withdrawn person, Sean was a bit amazed at how easily Rayf got along with people and made small talk. HE was still adjusting to the brand new experience of being in the extended company of anyone at all, as opposed to being alone all the time like usual. At the moment they were talking about one another's Pokémon.

"To tell the truth, I've never CAUGHT a single Pokémon in my life," Raili explained. "But I've come to know the ghost Pokémon of Pokémon Tower so well over the years that many of them treat me as if I was their trainer. And what about you, Rayf?"

"Me? Well... all of mine were sort of lost or abandoned when I found them," Rayf confessed. "I kind of just wanted to capture them so I could protect them and give them a better life."

"How noble of you," Raili half-teased. "So tell me about your Pokémon."

"Let's see... there's Traumellow the Hypno, Gobbo the Nidorino, Sedative the Slowpoke, and Amanita, my Parasect."

"Charming names," Raili earnestly remarked. She glanced back at Sean. "How about yours, Sean?"

Sean was a little startled, not used to being addressed by people. "What? Oh... Besides Harlequin, there's Kiichigo the Beedrill, Baphomet the Zubat, Fracture the Cubone, and I also have my Horsea, Ganymede... oh, and Spirea, my Bulbasaur that I have in storage right now—"

"Vuuuuull!" Sean was interrupted as a Vulpix suddenly dashed out onto the path from some bushes and leaped up against his chest. Sean almost fell over, but supported the small Pokémon and stabilized himself.

"Uhhh... did you forget to tell us about your Vulpix, Sean?" Rayf asked only half seriously.

Sean was as surprised as Rayf was. "Um... no. I've never seen this Vulpix in my life."

"Pix vuull," The fox Pokémon looked up at Sean with questioning, concerned eyes.

"How strange," said Raili. "Vulpix are normally some of the shyest wild Pokémon there are..."

Rayf looked concerned. "It sure looks frightened... I wonder if it was running away from something."

"It WAS," an unknown voice answered from the same direction the Vulpix had come from. "And YOU all should be running away now as well!"

* * *

Chapter 10

Entwinement

Everyone's attention was drawn to where the new voice had come from as a young man wearing all black emerged from the bushes. He had straight black hair, a red "R" on his chest, and seemed slightly out of breath, as if he had just been running.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll hand over that Vulpix right now and we can go our separate ways," he threatened. The Vulpix was apparently upset by his demand, as it fidgeted nervously in Sean's arms.

Rayf was the first to address him. "And why, may I ask, does some Team Rocket member need such an innocent little Pokémon?" he asked confidently.

"Why is none of your business," the man snapped. "But that Vulpix isn't nearly so innocent as you'd like to THINK. Unless you all want to DIE, you should rid yourselves of it as soon as possible."

"Why? Does it have some sort of disease of something?" Raili asked curiously.

"I've said enough already," the man had become impatient. "Now will you give it up peacefully, or not?"

"I don't know exactly what's going on here," Rayf began. "but the one thing that IS clear is that this Pokémon doesn't want to go with YOU, so we don't intend to just let you TAKE it" he said with determination as he looked to the Vulpix and Sean, who nodded resolutely in agreement at him.

"What a pain," the man complained while rubbing his forehead. "Fine. Whatever," he shrugged. "Talon! Terra! NOW!"

Immediately after the he suddenly shouted this, Sean noticed the ground beneath his feet beginning to tremble slightly. As everyone struggled to keep their balance, the shaking became increasingly intense, until the earth beneath them finally gave away, violently erupting and sinking in different places to form an uneven, severely warped terrain.

Everyone fell down one way or another, but the worst of the tremor was felt by Sean, who was hit with a virtual EXPLOSION of earth in the spot where he stood, knocking him several feet into the air and causing him to lose grip of the Vulpix.

"Pidgeooo!" As he landed painfully on the uneven ground, the Vulpix, still airborne, was snatched out of the air by a swooping Pidgeot which seemed to come out of nowhere. Gripping the tiny fox Pokémon in its talons, it flew to where the Team Rocket member stood and dropped it into his arms before landing next to him. The earth in front of him then parted as a Dugtrio popped up.

"Just like we planned," the man said with satisfaction as he recalled the Dugtrio back into its Poké Ball.

Then, before anyone could regain their senses from the chaos which had unfolded in the span of about 20 seconds, he hopped onto the back of his Pidgeot with the Vulpix tucked under one arm and took off above the trees and out of sight.

After a few moments stumbling over the uneven earth, Sean, Rayf and Raili finally recovered their composure and came to their feet.

"Well, THAT sucked," Sean remarked moodily while brushing the dirt off his shirt and jeans.

"Is anybody hurt?" Rayf asked.

"I don't think so," Raili answered. "His ultimate goal wasn't to harm us... he just wanted to get the Vulpix and leave, apparently."

"What could he have meant by saying that Vulpix wasn't innocent?" Sean pondered aloud. "And why'd he want it so badly?"

"No clue," said Rayf. "But Sean, we can't just let him get away with this! That poor Vulpix... it's bad enough when Pokémon are abandoned, but being captured by Team Rocket... who knows what they'll do to it!" Rayf's streak of helping Pokémon in need wasn't going to let him ignore this situation.

"I don't feel any better about it than you do," Sean started, "but what can we do now? The guy's gone, and we don't even know what we'd be getting involved  
with—"

"So WHAT!" Rayf surprised Sean with the anger in his voice. "What if it was one of OUR Pokémon? Doesn't that Vulpix deserve to be saved just as much as they would?!"

Sean had never heard his friend take such a harsh tone with him. He felt thoroughly disgusted with himself for coming off as so insensitive to Rayf.

"... I... I guess."

Raili looked at Sean sympathetically.

"We should get going immediately if we want to have any hope of finding them," she interjected to break the tension between the two of them.

"Right," Rayf agreed as he refocused on the task at hand. "If we head in the direction he flew, then maybe we can find them, or at least some kind of clue or something."

The group of three began running frantically through the woods in the direction the Pidgeot had flown, hoping they would find some sign of where the Vulpix had been taken. After several minutes of this, Sean was quite winded, not to mention scraped up from running through bushes and branches and tired of stumbling over large tree roots. Then suddenly...

"Ooof!" Sean had the wind knocked out of him as someone blindsided him from behind, tackling and pinning him chest-down on the ground.

"Guess who!" his assaulter demanded while straddled over him and twisting his arm painfully behind his back.

Sean recognized the voice. Oh no... don't tell me... he thought to himself rolling his eyes.

"You don't get up till you guess!" Iris teased.

Sean groaned, still unable to see her due to his uncomfortable position. He may have been taller than Iris, but was of much slighter build, so it was relatively easy for her to hold him down.

"Irisss... Get OFF me already!"

By now Rayf and Raili had realized Sean had fallen behind them and backtracked to observe this peculiar scene.

"Iris is correct!" Iris chimed as she got off Sean and gave him a chance to slowly get up. "What a coincidence that we'd meet again in the middle of nowhere like this, huh?"

Sean wasn't as charmed by the coincidence.

"Why are YOU here? And why'd you have to ATTACK me like that..." Sean rubbed his arm tenderly.

"Attacked?" Iris bemusedly asked. "That hit was nothing! You sure are a baby, hehehe!"

"Hey, who's your friend, Sean?" Rayf asked in his usual friendly tone.

"She's not really a friend..." Sean continued grumbling. "Ow!" he then said as Iris socked him in the shoulder.

"Not a friend!?" she said with feigned outrage. "What kind of way is THAT to talk about an old acquaintance? Jeez, you need to work on your manners, Sean..."

MY manners...? Sean thought to himself.

"I'm Iris, and I beat Sean in a friendly little battle we had just several days ago," Iris proudly announced. "And you would be...?"

"Rayf. I'm a good friend of Sean's," Rayf smiled as he put an arm around Sean's shoulders.

Sean, slightly embarrassed, noticed Iris briefly shoot him a smug, crooked smirk.

"And I'm Raili," Raili introduced herself. "I'm traveling with Sean because... well, it's a long story..."

* * *

Chapter 11

Trace

At this point, everyone figured they had fallen far enough behind the Team Rocket member that a small delay wouldn't make much difference, so they all filled Iris in on the events which had taken place in Rock Tunnel and led to Rayf and Raili accompanying Sean, and about their current pursuit of the stolen Vulpix.

"Hang on," Iris interrupted at one point. "So you say this guy had shoulder-length, straight black hair, and ambushed you with a Pidgeot and a Dugtrio?"

"Yeah," Rayf confirmed. "Why?"

"Because I think I know that guy!" Iris exclaimed. "That sounds exactly like someone I used to go to school with. His name was Sven, and he never really got along well with anybody. Interestingly enough though, I heard a rumor not too far back that he actually joined up with Team Rocket."

"It must be the same person," Raili concluded. "I'll never understand what makes some trainers want to work for a criminal organization like that..."

"In one word: money," Iris stated cynically. "I'm really not surprised that a guy like Sven would turn to them. He was a lousy trainer last time I saw him, and lousy trainers don't make much of a living."

"Anyway," Rayf wanted to get back to the issue at hand. "We just HAVE to find him so we can save that Vulpix..."

"But we don't have any leads at the moment," Sean explained.

Iris looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmmmmm... you know, I think I MAY actually have an idea about where he could have gone..."

"Really? Where?!" Rayf asked excitedly.

"Do you all know about the abandoned power plant near Lavender that's sort of on the other side of the mountains?"

Everyone nodded.

"Well it just so happens that I passed through that general area back when I was in the vicinity of Rock Tunnel, and I saw something suspicious..." Iris paused on purpose to hold everyone in suspense for a moment.

"...And?" Sean and Rayf inadvertently said together.

"A faint stream of smoke," Iris finally said. "...rising from the other side of a bluff which kind of hides the power plant."

"But that place hasn't been used for YEARS..." Raili noted.

"Exactly," Iris affirmed. "And just think about it: why would an old place like that, hidden in a remote location, suddenly be showing signs of use after all these years?"

"So you think Team Rocket's set up some sort of base there?" Sean asked.

"There's no way to be sure," Iris granted. "But considering that we don't have any other ideas about where to look, I'd say that would be a good place to start."

Everyone agreed with Iris's logic, and so without much more delay, the four of them started walking back toward Lavender to then make their way to the old power plant.

As they walked through the woods, Iris eventually started to hang back behind Rayf and Raili to walk next to Sean.

"So, Sean, seems like you're pretty CLOSE to this Rayf guy, huh?" she teased.

Sean tried not to show how annoyed he already was.

"What are you TALKING about...?" he muttered.

"Oh, YOU know... saved your butt when you were all lost and helpless... brought you to a nice, romantic little cabin where you two could be ALONE for a while..." Iris started to snicker.

"Huh?!" Sean was beginning to blush quite badly.

"Don't act so coy, Sean! I see EXACTLY what's going on HERE..." Iris declared with certainty.

"Shut up!" Sean said in a hushed voice lest Rayf or Raili should hear their conversation. He was now blushing even more. "It ISN'T like that... he's just a friend..."

Iris was THOROUGHLY enjoying herself.

"Go ahead and keep TELLING yourself that!" She persisted. "But don't worry... your little secret's safe with me..."

... Stupid Iris... Sean thought to himself. She was out of her mind. He WAS very fond of Rayf, but he knew he didn't like him THAT way... or did he...?

"Hold it," Rayf suddenly put a hand up and stopped the group's progression from up ahead. Everyone looked up to see what had made him stop.

Lying before them was a trail of carnage through the woods. Leaves and branches were shredded, thick tree branches were broken and littered all over, and the bark of every other tree was lacerated with deep markings that appeared to have been made by some sort of claws. On the ground, leading in the same direction Sean and his friends were now headed, but pointing the opposite way, were what looked like the paw prints of a very large animal.

"I've never seen anything like THIS before," Iris commented.

"Me neither," Rayf said quietly.

Raili walked up to one of the trees and placed her hand on the gashes in the bark, closing her eyes and focusing for several seconds.

"These markings are full of rage... and pain..." she said gravely as she opened her eyes again. "Whatever made them was suffering terribly..." Everyone remained quiet for a moment in the wake of Raili's enigmatic words.

Raili then noticed out of the corner of her eye that Iris was eyeing her intently with a curious, somewhat goofy look of fascination.

"Um," Raili finally returned Iris's stare. "Do I have messy hair or something?"

"Are you like, a witch or something?" Iris bluntly asked out of nowhere.

Raili was dumbstruck and didn't know what to say, while Sean and Rayf just stared at Iris with their mouths hanging open for a moment.

"I'm certainly NOT," Raili finally said with a small blush.

Rayf had found the comment slightly funny. "You shouldn't just go around calling people witches, Iris," he joked.

"Sorry," Iris felt a little embarrassed. "It's just that I've never met any psychics before... and there's also that strange-looking pendant around your neck..."

"Actually, I've been curious about that too," Rayf said. "What exactly IS that thing?"

Raili began feeling self-conscious with everyone staring at her.

"This?" She touched the obsidian-like, claw shaped pendant suspended from her neck. "Just a good-luck charm," she spoke shyly and a bit mysteriously. "Um... don't we have more urgent things to attend to?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Iris reluctantly relented from her inquisition to look at the tracks on the ground. "The weird thing is that these tracks seem to lead right to where we're going."

"But what could have made them..." Sean wondered, observing the unusually large claw indentations in the tracks.

"Don't know," Rayf said. "But we don't have time to figure it out now. We might as well just follow this ravaged trail though, since it leads in the direction we're headed."

The group went on their way, observing further evidence of the rampage for about a mile, until it suddenly stopped as if whatever made the trail had appeared out of nowhere.

"Huh. That's odd..." Rayf noted. "I wonder why all the damage just stops here like this."

Everyone else was just as confused as Rayf, so they just silently continued onward.

* * *

Chapter 12

Entry

Eventually, they came out of the woods and to the shore of a calm lake that wrapped around behind a bluff which had a faint stream of smoke rising above it.

"Look! It's just like you said, with the smoke there!" Rayf said with a bit of surprise.

"I wouldn't LIE," Iris said a bit defensively while crossing her arms.

"But how do we get there?" Sean questioned. "We'd need a boat to get across this lake."

"Just leave that to me," Iris said, winking as she took a Poké Ball out of her pocket. "Come on out, Majellan!"

As the white energy flowed out of the Poké Ball, it took the form of a large Tentacruel, floating in the water with its multitude of tentacles all hidden beneath the surface.

"Crruuueelll," the gigantic jellyfish Pokémon gurgled in a deep, wavering voice that almost sounded like it was coming from underwater.

"Majellan can fairy a couple people across at a time," Iris boasted proudly. "The two of us who are the strongest trainers should probably go first, just in case there are any Rocket goons over there or something. Raili doesn't have ANY Pokémon, so..." She motioned to Rayf. "Come on, Rayf!"

"Gee, thanks," Sean said sarcastically, even though he had no doubt that Iris and Rayf were both more capable trainers than himself.

"Oh, don't be so sensitive," Iris teased. "I'm only looking out for your safety, sissy-boy."

"Hey, don't call him names like that!" Rayf defended Sean. "Sean might not be the strongest battler in the world, but he's got other strengths..."

"And what might those be...?" Iris asked with amused skepticism.

"Well, for one thing, he's very empathetic and has a deep understanding of his Pokémon and their feelings."

Sean felt slightly embarrassed, but was touched by Rayf's compliment. It felt a bit strange to have someone praise him for anything.

"Man... let's just GO already. All this touchy-feely talk is gonna make me sick," Iris said with impatience as she hopped on her Tentacruel.

Rayf looked to Sean. "Anyway, don't take it personally, Sean. We'll go scout it out first and then you and Raili can ride over."

"Sure," Sean said with a slight smile.

Shortly after Majellan disappeared around the bluff with Iris and Rayf, it returned to transport Sean and Raili across the lake. Sean found the ride to be surprisingly comfortable. Sitting atop the Tentacruel was like sitting on a big, soft cushion.

Once they turned around the corner, they were finally able to see the side of the power plant, which was situated close to the shore and nestled against the mountains. They spotted Iris and Rayf standing close to the back of the building, looking conspicuous. As they neared the shore, Iris held a finger to her lips, indicating them not to talk too loudly.

"We need to skirt around the wall silently and try to scope out the entrance from a distance," Iris semi-whispered as Sean and Raili carefully jumped onto land and she withdrew Majellan. "This place COULD be guarded."

Without any more talk, the group began making their way single-file along the side of the building, taking care to make as little noise as possible with their steps. Once they neared the end of the wall, Iris, who was in the lead, stopped and cautiously peered around the corner just far enough to view the front of the building with one eye.

"Just as I suspected," she said as she turned back to the group. "There's some guy in black standing at the entrance. I think that just about confirms that there's something suspicious going on at this place."

"So our quarry may be here," Raili pointed out. "But what do we do now?"

"If he's a guard for Team Rocket, he probably has Pokémon with him," Sean rationed. "Think we'll have to battle him to get in?"

"That shouldn't be necessary..." Iris said with a hint of mischief in her voice.

Then, without warning and before anyone could ask her what she meant, she darted around the corner out of sight. After looking at each other in dismay for a moment, the others quickly crowded the spot where she had been spying to see what she was up to. They saw Iris moving at a fast but stealthy pace directly toward the guard, who fortunately had his head turned just enough to the side not to notice her quite yet.

"What's she THINKING?" Sean whispered in disbelief.

"I may be psychic, but I haven't the faintest idea," Raili admitted openly.

"Hey!" Everyone heard the guard exclaim in surprise as he finally noticed Iris and began raising one hand in her direction. This would be the one and only movement he would be allowed. With blinding speed, Iris moved in close, batted his hand to the side, and delivered two or three lightning-quick blows to various vital points which laid the man flat on his back and unconscious. After ensuring that the area was now clear, she motioned to her awe-struck companions that it was okay to come out of hiding. They approached the entrance cautiously.

"Wow! That was amazing!" Rayf said enthusiastically.

"It sure was," Raili agreed. "Where'd you learn to DO that?" she asked looking down at the dispatched guard.

"It was just a little karate," Iris said nonchalantly. "Been doing it since I was a kid."

"You never said you knew karate!" Sean said peevishly.

"You never ASKED," Raili replied simply.

It now made a little more sense to Sean why Iris was always so... physical.

"Come on, let's hurry!" Rayf reminded everyone of their mission.

He approached the sturdy, rusted door to the power plant and heaved it open for everyone to enter before following and letting the door clang shut behind him.

* * *

Chapter 13

Interception

In the dim interior, which was brightened only by a small amount of daylight from several small windows at the front of the building, they could only barely see that they were in a large main room occupied by some kind of huge metal generators which were now dormant and left to collect dust in the shadows.

"I don't get it..." Sean said. "What was that guy guarding? This place looks like it's still abandoned."

All four of them looked around as best they could in the dark, their steps making slight echoes in the large space.

"Hey, look at this!" Iris shouted not too far away from where they had come in.

Everyone gathered where she was to see a faint line of bloody shoe or boot prints leading OUT of the building, and coming from the far corner on the left side of the room.

"SOMEONE didn't clean up their tracks," Rayf observed.

"Wonder where the blood came from..." Sean said uneasily.

"We better see where these lead," Iris began walking toward the dark corner where the tracks led. The others followed.

The tracks led to the top of a dark stairwell where they led down into the darkness. The group paused briefly to brace their nerves for whatever they might find at the bottom.

"Let's go," Iris said quietly but fearlessly before they carefully descended down the dark stairs.

Once they got to the bottom they saw that the darkness only enveloped the stairwell and a brief section of a long hallway which they now faced. The lights near the end of the hallway illuminated relatively new-looking metal walls, revealing that this area was clearly either new, or refurbished, unlike the rest of the run-down facility.

"Weird," Sean remarked quietly as they began walking down the hallway.

They all continued walking until they turned a corner at the end of the passage. Along this new hallway were several solid metal doors with high-tech locking mechanisms and one larger set of double doors at the end.

"It's about to get even WEIRDER," Raili remarked as she stopped, her attention caught by something on the wall.

Everyone else stopped to see what she was staring at: an abundance of scratches and indented slash marks in the otherwise plain metal wall which continued down the passage for some way.

"Kind of reminds me of what we saw in the woods," Rayf said forebodingly.

Raili placed her hand on one of the indentations in the same way she had with the tree from before.

"I can sense the same anger and pain from before..."

"It's like something's been rampaging all OVER the place," Iris said in vexation.

"I really wonder if Sven or the Vulpix are even HERE," Sean commented skeptically.

"We'll probably find out soon enough..." Raili answered.

Little did the four of them know that their presence hadn't gone undetected. By means of hidden security cameras, they had been discovered on a monitor in the heart of the facility.

"Sven!" Prof. Shiare snapped in her typical way which always put Sven on edge.

"What is it?" Sven replied apprehensively as he approached the console Prof. Shiare was standing before.

"Would THESE by any chance be the pests you TOLD me that you took care of when you retrieved our little friend?!" She gestured angrily toward the four figures who appeared on a screen in front of her.

Sven looked in disbelief as he recognized the three people he had taken the Vulpix from.

"I... I don't believe it... it IS them!" He then quickly looked a little closer and became even MORE shocked when he recognized the other, fourth person.

"Well quit gawking at the screen and go get rid of them! NOW!"

Prof. Shiare's sharp words broke him out of his stupor and he took off to deal with the intruders he hadn't anticipated ever seeing again.

"I can't BELIEVE SHE's with them..." Sven muttered to himself as he ran through the halls.

Sean, Iris, Rayf, and Raili were just moving on from observing the strange marks on the walls when someone suddenly pushed through the double doors at the end of the hallway.

"I don't know how you found this place, but NONE of you are going to leave alive now..." Sven threatened as he stood at a distance with a Poké Ball in hand.

Recognizing him from the ambush in the woods, everyone now knew that the Vulpix must have been brought here.

Iris looked amused. "Well, look at you," she began in a patronizing tone. "When I last saw YOU, you were watching helplessly as I was effortlessly creaming your Pokémon in a battle! Remember THAT?"

Sven gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes at Iris, mad at her for bringing back bad memories.

"And now you're a lowly lackey for Team Rocket," Iris continued. "Seems you haven't changed much, Sven. You're still as pathetic as ever!"

"Shut up!" Sven shouted. Iris had clearly touched a nerve. "You're about to see just how much stronger I am NOW! And you won't live to tell about it! Go, Talon!" He released his Pidgeot, which stood in front of him and spread its wings impressively.

"Pidgeeoooo!" the large raptor-like Pokémon screamed.

"You guys take one of these doors and try to find that Vulpix before someone takes it somewhere else or something," Isis said urgently to everyone else. "I can take care of THIS loser by myself."

Sven glowered at Iris.

"If you say so," Rayf said, without any doubt that Iris could handle just about anything.

"I'm staying here with you," Raili insisted. "I don't think any one of us should be all alone in this place..."

"Have it your way," Iris smiled slightly.

Rayf and Sean ran toward the nearest door that Sven wasn't blocking off.

"Schizoid!" Iris shouted as she released her Sandslash to face the Pidgeot. "Remember this loser bird, Schiz? We get to beat it again!"

"Slash!" the Sandslash echoed her confident tone as it raised its razor sharp claws in preparation for attack.

"Not THAT thing again..." Sven grumbled under his breath, apparently recollecting a previous match-up that hadn't gone so well for him.

While this was going on, Rayf and Sean were in the process of trying to get through a securely locked door.

"I know!" Rayf was hit with an idea of how they could get the door open. "Come on out, Amanita!"

The white energy from his Poké Ball took the form of a Parasect.

"Parasssect!" The mushroom Pokémon hissed.

"Use Slash to get rid of this lock, Amanita!"

The Parasect scuttled over to the door and then raised one of its large claws high in the air before swiping downwards with incredible force at the metal bar locking the door. With a sharp sound of metal being ripped apart, the bar was severed and the door swung open freely.

Rayf recalled Amanita and, with Sean following, rushed through the door.

* * *

Chapter 14

Kindle

Back in the hallway, Sven was still fuming at Iris whilst he tried to quickly plan an attack strategy in his head. Then, apparently struck by some idea, his look of consternation twisted into a devious grin.

"What are YOU so happy with yourself for?" Iris asked.

"Oh, nothing much... I just remembered something that might interest you, that's all..."

"And what would that be?"

"Let me ask you, Iris... do you remember back when we used to go to school together all those years ago and there was that one kid you always looked out for? You seemed to be quite fond of him..."

Iris narrowed her eyes at him.

"Always helped him out when he got into trouble... hung out together all the time... what was his name again?" Sven feigned ignorance to make Iris say the name.

"You mean Gwyn," Iris said impatiently. "Get to the point already. What about him?"

Sven's expression became even more malevolent. "He's HERE."

"What do you mean, 'he's here,'?"

"Just what I said," Sven spoke in a slow, foreboding tone. "He's here in this facility. Although... you probably wouldn't recognize him now." At this point, Sven began to snicker mischievously to himself.

"What are you saying?" Iris asked in an irritated but slightly worried tone. "If you DID anything to him, you KNOW I'll give you the beating of your life!"

"Well let's see if you can live up to your tough words! Talon, use Gust!"

From its grounded position, the Pidgeot flapped its wings with tremendous force, sending a focused blast of wind down the hallway.

"Dodge it, Schizoid!" Iris shouted. "And then use Swift!"

From a low stance, Schizoid agilely leaped in a diagonal direction out of the way of the gust of air as it ripped by and roared down the hallway. It then ran a few paces on all fours and jumped up into the air, curling into a spinning ball of spines which radiated rays of white energy towards its opponent.

"Djeooo!" The bird screeched as the unavoidable rays barraged it.

"Ughrr... retaliate with Wing Attack!" Sven called, already flustered.

Talon took off with what room the large hallway allowed, soaring towards Schizoid, who had now landed and was already poised to attack again.

"Hold your ground," Iris directed her Sandslash.

The fast-approaching Pidgeot was about to make impact with the edge of its wing.

"Watch out!" Raili shouted from the sidelines.

"NOW, get down and stick your claws UP!" Iris commanded.

In the blink of an eye, Schizoid ducked under the wing as it glided mere inches overhead, simultaneously positioning both claws in the air and facing the bird Pokémon. Blood spurted from the two long gashes Talon inflicted on itself by scraping over the claws. Its flight form faltered and it crashed against the floor, sliding down the hallway and leaving a smear of blood behind it.

"Damn it!" Sven screamed. "Return!"

The bloody heap of feathers was sucked back into Sven's Poké Ball. Then, before he could even THINK about the impossibility of trying to use his Dugtrio in a place with no exposed earth, Iris ran at him, grabbed him by the collar, and slammed him against the wall with full force.

"Aghhh!" He yelled with the painful impact. "What's your problem?! You already beat me!"

Iris's tone was dead serious. "You're going to take me to Gwyn. NOW."

"Fine! I'll take you to your precious little Gwyn," Sven said bitterly, with a possible hint of jealousy in his voice. "Just let go!"

Iris reluctantly released him and he straightened up his uniform a little.

"I don't think you're going to like what you find, though..." he said moodily.

"Just get moving!"

"Alright, ALRIGHT," he raised his hands as if afraid of a blow. "It's this way."

He reluctantly led Iris and Raili to a door on the opposite side of the hall as the one Sean and Rayf had entered and swiped a card through the lock to open it. They continued to follow him through several more corridors and locked doors until they finally arrived in a small room which had a special-looking door with one small window and a key-pad lock on the left wall. At first, however, Iris's attention was drawn to the right side of the room, where there was a computer on a desk and a file cabinet against the wall.

"Your little friend's through here," Sven said as he walked toward the door, ready to type in the code to unlock it.

"Wait," Iris interrupted him. "What's in here?" She asked suspiciously as she pointed at the file cabinet.

"I don't know," Sven answered blankly. "It's not my job to mess around with the Professor's work."

"The Professor's work?" Raili questioned with slightly fearful interest. "Who's the Professor? And what kind of work?"

Sven shrugged with impatience. "She's the one I take orders from. And I try to keep my nose out of her business. Look, do you want to see him or not?"

"YOU can wait until we're ready," Iris asserted. "I want to see if I can find out what exactly has been going on in this place before we leave."

She slid open a mid-level drawer of the cabinet and began sorting through folders. Most of them had strange sequences of indecipherable numbers and letters on their labels, but a few stood out. They were each marked with the heading "Specimen NHH1" followed by various date spans.

"Here, Raili. These folders might have something," Iris handed one of the folders to Raili, taking another one out for herself. "Maybe we can find out what they're trying to do with that Vulpix."

After they had been flipping through the folders for a few minutes, Raili stopped on a page that caught her eye.

"Specimen NHH1 Experiment Log," she read aloud.

"Huh?" Iris looked up at her.

"A little over one year since first injection procedure. The subject has begun developing several of the distinctive physical features found in the Nidorino species, including spines and violet skin pigmentation. Tests also indicate heightened reflexes and sensory perception, —most notably smell and hearing."

"What on earth...?" Iris wondered aloud.

"There's more," Raili continued. "Specimen has continued to show increased aggressiveness and rage in correlation with physiological changes, sometimes to the point of self-destructiveness. Likely adopted from the violent disposition of the Nidorino species. If behavior continues to worsen, may attempt to curb it by introducing DNA from the more docile female counterpart of the species..."

"Hey, I found another entry!" Iris said as she discovered a similar page in her folder.

"Iris... I don't like the sound of this," Raili spoke quietly. "You don't think this 'specimen' could be—"

"Wait, listen to this!" Iris interrupted. "Roughly three years since experiment start. 14 months since introduction of Nidorina DNA into the injection formula. Subject's behavior is still unpredictable, but has largely been tempered. Behavior has now become characterized by intense mood swings and psychological instability, possibly caused by a hormonal imbalance resulting from the combined DNA of the male and female species. Subject's recovery time after procedures has improved notably. Will gradually begin increasing dosages."

As Iris finished reading she slowly looked up at Raili in dread, the two of them sharing a moment of mutual fear of what they thought they might have just realized. Iris then tossed the folder on the desk carelessly and angrily marched up to Sven, grabbing him by the collar once again.

"Is THAT Gwyn? Is the 'specimen' in those files GWYN?!"

Sven narrowed his eyes and spoke with quiet malice. "... Maybe..."

"Open the door!" Iris screamed at him as she almost THREW him by the collar towards the locked door.

Fearing further abuse, Sven quickly typed in the code, and with a beep, the metal locks slid back and the door automatically opened. Iris immediately shoved Sven out of the way walked briskly into the cell only to be stopped dead in her tracks by what she saw inside.

In one corner of the otherwise empty, dimly-lit cell, a strange figure lied half-curled-up on the floor, facing away from Iris, his limbs restrained by metal cords attached to the wall.

The gaunt figure was wearing a dirty, heavily worn, white collared shirt which was open, exposing his bare chest. He also wore an equally shredded up pair of dark gray jeans with extremely frayed bottoms which ended at his bare feet. His mop of messy hair was an unnatural green color, and his skin a light shade of violet with an occasional dark purple spot. Sprouting out of the messy hair were two spiny ears with blue insides resembling those of a Nidorino, although they weren't quite as long, and down his spine ran a row of prominent, sharp spikes, forming a spiny ridge which poked through the fabric of his shirt. At the bottom of his spine, a short, violet-colored tail stuck out just over the waistline of his low-slung jeans.

Iris stood perfectly still, her mouth open but unable to speak, staring in horror and disbelief at the human-Pokémon hybrid before her. Then she dashed over to the figure, kneeling next to him to get a better look. He seemed to be in a deep sleep. Carefully rolling him over a little, she was shocked even further to find a horn extending out of the hair which hung down his forehead. Upon looking at his face, she gasped as her fear became reality. She recognized him as Gwyn, her best friend from youth whom she hadn't seen for years.

Just then Raili ran in. "Sven just bolted on us. He seemed pretty anxious to— ...oh my—" she said as she noticed the strange person in Iris's arms. "...Is that...?"

"It's Gwyn!" Iris choked out with teary eyes.

"You're sure?"

"I'm POSITIVE," Iris struggled to speak between sobs. "Even though he's like this now, I can still recognize him..."

Raili could only stare in shock and pity at the scene in front of her.

"...The last time I saw him..." Iris tried to control her emotions enough to speak. "The last time I saw him he was a NORMAL PERSON, just like you and me! What kind of sick people DID this to him?! And WHY?!"

"Iris..."

Raili felt helpless to do anything but stand and watch as Iris sobbed over her old friend. Both of them had almost entirely forgotten about Sean and Rayf, and the Vulpix they had all originally come for.

"What about Sean and Rayf?" Raili finally remembered. Shouldn't we still catch up with them?"

"...oh...I almost forgot," Iris said, still in a dreamy, distracted state of grief. Then she laid him down gently and stood up with determination, snapping out of her sorrow and taking a Poké Ball out of her pocket.

"What should we do about him...?" Raili asked about Gwyn.

"I'm taking him with us," Iris stated firmly as she released Schizoid from the Poké Ball. "Schizoid, CAREFULLY slash these cords away!"

Schizoid took precise aim at one of the metal cords restraining Gwyn and then swiped at it, cleanly severing it and freeing one of Gwyn's wrists. He then took care of the other three in turn until Gwyn was freed.

"They must have drugged him, or else I think he would have woken up by now," Iris guessed.

After recalling her Pokémon, she heaved Gwyn over her shoulder, rising to her feet with relative ease despite the extra weight.

"Jeez, he's even lighter than I REMEMBER him being!" she noted. "They must have starved the poor kid too!"

Raili smiled at Iris's resilience in such a difficulty.

"Let's go find Rayf and Sean."

"Right!" Raili agreed.

* * *

Chapter 15

Threshold

In their frantic rush to find the Vulpix as soon as possible, Sean and Rayf had been rushing through what they had found to be a very confusing maze of corridors and small rooms of unknown purposes. Whenever they came to another locked door, Amanita was called out to make sort work of it. Sean occasionally noticed various strange looking crates, cells, and pieces of equipment out of the corner of his eye, but they never slowed down long enough to examine any of it. He had a sick feeling that he was better off NOT knowing much about what went on in this place.

"Just how big IS this place?" Sean asked as they came to another locked door.

"Who knows..." Rayf said as he let Amanita out yet again to take care of the door's lock.

As they broke through the door, they found themselves in the biggest room they had found so far, and its contents revealed that it was obviously of much greater importance than the others they had passed through.

Straight across from them there was a row of several glass tubes of various sizes, some even big enough to accomodate a person. There was a strange machine next to and connected with each container, each one with a complicated-looking control panel. Almost all of them were empty, but two of them were filled with a strange, pale green fluid.

On the right side of the room near a far corner was a large cage constructed of thick metal bars. Looking closely, Sean saw that the Vulpix they had come for was trapped inside. However, he thought it was strange that such a small Pokémon was being kept in a cage large enough for a Rhydon.

Next to the cage and running down the wall was a long control console jam-packed with all sorts of buttons, keypads, and screens. Standing in front of it there was a tall woman wearing a lab coat whose blonde hair was tied up in a bun. She spun around sharply to see what intrusion had interrupted her, light glinting off her glasses.

"I'm impressed," she began as she walked away from the console. "Not that you got past that idiot, Sven, but that you were able to get all the way here."

"What are you planning to do with that Vulpix?" Rayf asked boldly.

"Why, continue what I've BEEN doing with it, of course. Surely you've figured out that it's my test subject by now..."

"You mean you already did something to it?" Sean spoke up.

"Oh yes," Prof. Shiare said profoundly. "We've made GREAT progress in the short time we've spent together."

Rayf grew more serious. "WHAT did you do to it?"

"It would be ideal if I could SHOW you, but our little friend doesn't seem to be in the mood at the moment," Prof. Shiare said as she glanced back at the Vulpix, which was asleep in the cage. "I'm guessing you haven't seen his NASTY side yet..."

"What do you mean?"

"I guess I might as well divulge what I've been up to," Prof. Shiare said with conceit. "It's the least I can do before you die... As you may know, a Vulpix evolves into a Ninetales when exposed to a Fire Stone... Here in this labratory, I extracted the compounds in the Fire Stone that are responsible for this evolution and proceeded to... modify them in various ways."

She paused with satisfaction.

"And after I injected THAT Vulpix with the resultant formula, it began to periodically, albeit temporarily, transform into a NEW form FAR more useful and destructive than any mere Ninetales!"

"You're interfering with nature," Rayf commented in disgust. "And probably TORTURING that poor creature as well..."

"And just what IS NATURE?" Prof. Shiare queried rhetorically, uttering the word "nature" with tremendous distaste. "Look around you! You'll find that there's very little left in this world that's 'natural.' Do you think it's natural that you carry Pokémon around in Poké Balls? And do you think that the first prototypes of such devices were always free of defects and never HURT the Pokémon they were used on in experimental trials? Don't throw your moral hypocrisy at ME, boy! Besides... one specimen's suffering is UTTERLY INSIGNIFICANT in comparison to the REVELATIONS unlocked by UNHAMPERED SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTATION!" Prof. Shiare had worked herself into a mad frenzy.

"I think you've been down here a little too long," Rayf remarked. "But as tired as I'm getting of listening to your insane ranting, we're NOT leaving her without that Vulpix," he stubbornly declared.

Prof. Shiare brought her focus back to the intruders she still had to get rid of.

"Oh, I had no intention of allowing you to leave at ALL, young man. You see, you and your little friends have broken into a facility that you aren't even supposed to KNOW about, and when people discover things they aren't supposed to know about, they tend to DISAPPEAR."

Prof. Shiare took a Poké Ball out of her lab coat pocket and released a stream of white energy which materialized into the towering form of a Kangaskhan.

"Kangaaaa!" The imposing Pokémon let out its battle cry. Sean noticed that unlike the Kangaskhan he had seen in pictures, this one had no infant in its pouch.

"So, we're gonna settle this this with a battle, huh?" Rayf readied one of his own Poké Balls. "Come on, Sean. That thing won't be easy to beat, but I think we can take it down if we double-team it!"

"Right," Sean took out Baphomet's Poké Ball.

As Sean released his Zubat into the air, Rayf's Poké Ball revealed a Nidorino.

"We've got a tough opponent over there, Gobbo!" Rayf warned his Nidorino. "Be careful!"

The Nidorino looked at the Kangaskhan and grunted, showing no intimidation whatsoever as it started to scrape its forelegs against the floor in anticipation.

"Comet Punch!" Prof. Shiare commanded.

Likely because Gobbo was the biggest target, the Kangaskhan barreled toward the Nidorino, ready to unleash a barrage of, clenched, clawed fists on its enemy. It hardly seemed aware of the small Zubat fluttering nearby.

"Try to avoid it and counter with Fury Attack!" Rayf shouted.

As the Kangaskhan rushed into close quarters with Gobbo, it began thrusting its fists at lightning speed, barely missing as the agile Nidorino lept from side to side to avoid the heavy blows. Then when the smaller Pokémon saw an opportunity between the missing blows, it surged forward into the Kangaskhan's body, jabbing its horn into the mid-section repeatedly and creating multiple wounds from which flecks of blood flew.

"Skhaaan!" The large Pokémon screamed in pain.

Prof. Shiare saw her opportunity. "Use Take Down while it's close!"

The Kangaskhan quickly recovered from the Fury Attack and seized the Nidorino by the horn with one hand, lifting its body with the other. It then slammed Gobbo down hard against the floor.

"Gobbo!" Rayf cried in concern, knowing full well that one more attack that brutal would finish him.

Meanwhile, Sean had decided to try a sneak attack from behind.

"Baphomet, fly around behind it for a Leech Life attack!"

The little bat Pokémon stealthily flittered high and around the Kangaskhan and then dive bombed it, latching onto the back of its neck and using its tiny teeth to open a wound and begin draining energy. At first, the Kangashan didn't even seem to notice the meager attack, but as Baphomet began draining more and more blood, the large creature began to feel it and tried to bat the offender off, swinging its arms around behind it's neck.

"Horn Attack, Gobbo!" Rayf seized the moment to strike.

Now that it had had time to shake off the Take Down, Gobbo charged the struggling Kangaskhan once again, this time at its side, ramming the sharp horn into the tough hide even harder than before. Upon withdrawing the horn, blood flowed from the large stab wound which had been inflicted.

"Kanga... Skhaaaaa!" The Kangaskhan cried, only enraged by the pain. Its swings at Baphomet became more wild, but she still clung on tenaciously.

Then Sean noticed that something looked strange about Baphomet... squinting to try to make out what it was, he saw that her body seemed to be pulsating eradically, and almost... growing larger. Her wings seemed to be lengthening and spreading out as they wrapped further around the flailing Kangaskhan's neck, and toes on her feet that weren't there before began to take shape and grip the Kangaskhan's body.

... No way... Sean thought to himself.

Rayf looked on in amazement as well. "Sean! I think Baphomet's evolving!"

Finally, one of the Kangaskhan's frenzied swings struck Baphomet, knocking her off its neck. However, she used her wings deftly to upright herself in mid-air and landed on the floor with her limbs spread out like a crouching wolf's, blood dripping from the fangs in her now gaping jaws. The newly-evolved Golbat glared at the Kangaskhan with ghoulish hunger and brazen confidence.

* * *

Chapter 16

Collateral

"... It's almost as if the blood she drained fueled her evolution!" Sean hypothesized in awe.

"Fascinating," Prof. Shiare said sarcastically. "But this affair is becoming quite tiresome to me. I think I'll hasten your extermination!" She looked to the Nidorino which had become a literal thorn in her Kangaskhan's side. "HYPER BEAM THAT NIDORINO!"

Before any evasive maneuvers could be planned, an otherworldly light began to illuminate the Kangaskhan's open mouth from within, which then erupted out toward Gobbo in a laser-like beam of dense yellow-orange energy. The massive blast impacted the Nidorino head-on, sending it flying all the way across the room to slam against the wall near the door Sean and Rayf had entered through. Rayf ran to his fainted Pokémon as quickly as he could.

"GOBBO!" He screamed as he kneeled down to examine it.

"That's better," Prof. Shiare said happily. "Now I just have a winged rat to exterminate!"

As worried as he was about Rayf and Gobbo, Sean knew he had still had to focus on winning the battle. However, he was unsure and concerned about whether Baphomet could still fly after being struck so hard by the Kangaskhan earlier.

"Quick, Confuse Ray!" he shouted in desperation.

The Golbat immediately released a ray of energy from its mouth that seemed to pulsate with black, shadowy light. Before the Kangaskhan could avoid it, the ray collided with its body, seeping inside it through the skin.

"Use Rage NOW! Crush that pest!" Prof. Shiare exclaimed with contempt.

But the large Kangaskhan instead held its head in frustration, its eyes dilated and glowing a faint red from the Confuse Ray's effects. Baphomet could only watch from her vulnerable position on the floor, having been too battered and exhausted to fly any more.

Then the battle was interrupted as Iris and Raili suddenly ran in, stopping abruptly as they observed the dangerous situation they had just walked in on.

"Woah!" was all Iris could say as she saw the bloody, delirious Kangaskhan in the middle of the room.

Sean, Rayf, and Prof. Shiare all turned their attention to the two newcomers, and were all equally shocked to see the half-human, half-Pokémon frame draped over Iris's shoulder.

"HOW did you find HIM?!" / "Who is THAT?" / "What is THAT?" Prof. Shiare, Sean, and Rayf asked respectively at the same time.

"This is Gwyn. He used to be a good friend of mine," Iris sternly answered Sean and Rayf as she set him down to lean against the wall. She then glared across the room at a perturbed Prof. Shiare. "And I'm guessing THAT's the person reponsible for the way he LOOKS NOW..."

"A friend of yours, was he?" Prof Shiare began, now in an amused tone after recovering from the surprise of seeing her specimen set loose. "Don't you just LOVE what I've done with him...? I think my favorite new features are his ears, personally..." she cruelly mocked, as if she was making everyday small talk.

"You SOULLESS FREAK!" Iris screamed at her. "What kind of monster would do THIS to another HUMAN BEING?!"

"Why, the kind of monster who likes to make groundbreaking headway into the exciting field of possibilities presented by modern genetics, of course," Prof. Shiare explained in a calm, menacing voice. "You should be PROUD to have known someone who has the honor of being the world's first and only Nidorino-human hybrid... Specimen NHH1!"

Everyone was awestruck as they listened to the shameless scientist.

"... Although he isn't entirely pure," she continued. "There's also a bit of Nidorina in him, as you can see by that pitiful little tail...hahaha!"

"You..." Iris felt both grief and anger welling up inside her. "...Why... why Gwyn...?"

Before Prof. Shiare could make an answer, the Kangaskhan suddenly flung its head upwards and released a cry full of desperation and fury before charging in Baphomet's direction with frightening speed. Mercifully, its perception had been distorted enough that it missed Baphomet by a few feet, careening out of control and crashing its head recklessly against the wall. Sean wasted no time as the Kangaskhan staggered around in pain.

"Now, Baphomet! Leap up and Bite it!" The large bat used her legs to spring forward off the ground, jumping back onto the Kangaskhan's neck with the last of its energy and savagely digging her fangs into its neck yet again. This made the Kangaskhan stagger even more wildly and let loose an alarmed scream, blood flowing in streams from the place where Baphomet relentlessly clung. It swung its bulky arms chaotically and without purpose, but an occasional blow nevertheless made contact with the Golbat.

Meanwhile, amidst all the chaos, nobody had noticed that the imprisoned Vulpix had already become awake and alert to the events outside its cage several minutes ago. Neither did anyone notice the fit of shaking which now seized the small Pokémon as its body prepared for a change...

At the same time, Iris, who was hovering over Gwyn across the room, gasped as Gwyn's eye lids began to flutter and drowsily open.

"Gwyn...! It's me, Iris... remember me?" Iris almost whipsered in an anxious and shaky voice.

She flinched as she now saw his new eyes for the first time. Years ago when she had last seen him, they had been a light shade of brown that complimented his sandy-brown hair, but now they were a deep, blood red color, similar to a Nidorina's. He blinked confusedly as he saw the girl leaning over him.

"Iris...? This must be a dream..." Gwyn finally said in a strange, otherworldly voice that seemed hoarse, as if from screaming.

"No! It's really me, Gwyn!" Iris assured him with watery eyes. "I've come to get you out of this place!"

As this reunion was unfolding, Sean finally looked past his still struggling Golbat for a moment to witness something incredible happening inside the Vulpix's cage. Not only had the small Pokémon nearly quadrupled in size while he had been distracted with everything happening, but it was now in the process of changing shape before his eyes. From a tortured posture with its back raised in a hump, the Vulpix's limbs and tails were slowly elongating, and its fur turning a deeper shade of red with black accents, resembling charred edges. Black, quil-like, bristly hairs or spines grew high out of its back, and its claws and teeth had elongated and sharpened considerably. Curiously, one new tail had split off from the six there had been, to make seven. It's eyes had become a cold jet black like obsidian and seemed to glare in contempt at all of the figures outside its cage.

Back across the room, Gwyn seemed almost not to hear Iris, his red eyes moving from her to scan the rest of the room. He first caught sight of Rayf against a wall, crouched over his severely injured Nidorino. Gwyn's eyes suddenly widened in terror. Then he jerked out of Iris's arms, crawling backwards in stumbling fear and breathing fast.

"Awwww..." Prof. Shiare feigned sympathy, drawing Gwyn's attention for the first time. "Still haven't gotten over that silly old fear? You know, you really shouldn't be afraid of them any more than people... you DO have just as much in common with both now!" Prof. Shiare let out a maniacal laugh.

"Yoouuu..." Gwyn uttered slowly, his voice quivering with repressed hatred and rage as Prof. Shiare cackled.

Finally, Baphomet could take no more abuse, and as her strength gave out, allowed the Kangaskhan's swaying momentum to toss her across the floor and roll to a stop in a ball of limp, floppy wings.

"Kaaaaaanngg!" The Kangaskhan raised its arms in proud recognition of its opponent's defeat.

"It's about time," Prof. Shiare said, still unaware of the transformation the Vulpix behind her had undergone.

Then everyone in the room suddenly had their attention drawn to the cage by several ear-piercing, metallic screeching noises. The Pokémon which HAD BEEN an ordinary Vulpix had used its newly developed, razor-sharp claws to slash through the metal bars of the cage and was now standing just outside of the prison it had ripped out of, snarling visciously. Luckily for Prof. Shiare, she was positioned far off to the side of the transformed creature and it only seemed to be immediately aware of those who were standing across from it.

Prof. Shiare beheld her creation with a diabolical grin. "Magnificent... THIS is what I wanted to show you all!" She gestured toward the beast with an open hand. "I give you Pokémon evolution... PERFECTED!"

Her experiment now crouched down in a threatening posture and narrowed its dark eyes at her Kangashan, the nearest possible target in its sight.

"The only shortcoming..." Prof. Shiare continued distractedly. "...is that it's internal flame sac seems to lose its function in this form... however, I assure you that its PHYSICAL abilities MORE than make up for it!"

Everyone stared in horror at the terrible new threat before them, finally realizing what had been the cause of the strange things they had seen on the path that had led them here, and why Sven had spoken of the Vulpix the way he had.

Sean quickly withdrew his exhausted Golbat before it could be injured any further.

Then, without warning, the creature lunged forward, dashing like lightning straight for the unwary Kangaskhan which was still gloating over its battle victory.

"Skhaa—!" was only syllable the unfortunate Pokémon could scream as the viscious beast lept onto it from a great distance with its claws and teeth extended in mid-air, knocking it down with the impact. It then proceeded to mercilessly and savagely lacerate its victim's throat with its long claws, sometimes using its teeth to help rip apart the tougher parts of the Kangaskhan's hide. Blood from the myriad slashes sprayed like fountains and pooled on the floor.

"...It's INCREDIBLE..." Prof. Shiare said in awe, too thrilled by the demonstration of her creation's destructive capability to care that it was tearing apart her own Pokémon.

Gwyn, meanwhile, somehow seemed disconnected with this development, and hadn't once taken his hateful eyes off of Prof. Shiare.

"...I've waited YEARS for this opportunity..." he began with shaky anger building up in his voice as he got up from the floor.

"Hm?" Prof. Shiare turned her stare to Gwyn, intrigued.

"For everything you've done to me for SO LONG... for ruining my life in SO many ways and twisting me into your mutant play-thing just for your sick satisfaction..."

Gwyn's rage now erupted as he bolted for Prof. Shiare with inhuman speed.

"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL #*% $ING KILL YOU, YOU #* %$ING &^%$#!"

However, the creature that was still tearing into the Kangaskhan's now-lifeless carcass was provoked by this angry shouting. It looked up at Gwyn and lept off it's victim to crouch directly in his path, confronting him and blocking off the way to Prof. Shiare. Gwyn was forced to grind to a quick stop as it snarled and growled at him.

"Oooh, what a treat THIS is," Prof. Shiare clapped her hands together with giddy delight. "I get to see my two creations test out their abilities on one another! I WAS going to dispose of you eventually ANYWAY, my dear NHH1."

"SHUT UUUP!" Gwyn shouted, cringing and clenching his fists. He couldn't BEAR to hear the twisted woman refer to him that way... it evoked memeories of things she had done to him... unspeakable things that had scarred him deeply and which haunted him incessantly.

"His NAME is GWYN!" Iris spoke up angrily.

"He has no use for a NAME, you silly girl," Prof. Shiare scoffed.

In the standoff in the middle of the room, Gwyn could only wait for his adversary to make its move and hope to be able to fend it off somehow.

Finally the creature lurched forward. Acting on super quick reflexes as it lunged for him, Gwyn dived forward at a diagonal, nearly avoiding the attack completely save for a claw which grazed his shoulder, inflicting a deep cut on his shoulder which immediately began to bleed through the ragged fabric of his shirt. He had little time to recover, however, as his opponent quickly turned around and dashed for him again. This time, however, he couldn't avoid it, and as it jumped on him he grabbed its forlegs, struggling to keep the deadly claws at a distance.

The beast snapped its jaws viciously, just inches away from Gwyn's face as the two rolled around in a wild tornado of scarlet, violet, and green. Though he kept his hold on the forelegs, he still couldn't avoid numerous wounds from the claws of the hind legs which kicked and scraped at his lower body. Finally they came to a stop in a position which found Gwyn on his back with the creature on top of him, furiously trying to reach him with the front claws Gwyn still held back. Then his grip on one of the paws slipped, and its claws came slashing downward.

"AAUUUGHH!" Gwyn screamed as the swipe inflicted a deep, diagonal slash across his mid-section.

Then, summoning one last ounce of strength, Gwyn dug one foot into his opponent's belly and, using his other leg for leverage on the ground, launched it over his head behind him, where it crashed on its back and then stumbled toward an unexpectant Prof. Shiare, who couldn't backtrack fast enough to get out of its way.

The ferocious monstrosity knocked into her, causing her to fall backwards gasping. It then turned its angry glare in her direction to see what obstacle it had crashed into. It began to snarl as it slowly turned its body toward the culprit.

"... Such raw fury..." Prof. Shiare locked eyes with her experiment as if in a trance, her voice and expression betraying a strange mix of admiration and terror.

An instant later the creature was upon her, ferociously ripping at her flesh before she could so much as gasp. Blood flew wildly as the sadistic scientist voiced screams of pain and terror which lasted for only a few seconds...

Prof. Shiare was dead.

* * *

Chapter 17

Rain

Lying motionless in the center of the room, Gwyn had passed out from loss of blood, and the onlookers remaining had been paralyzed in grim shock by the carnage which had played out in front of them.

Then, collcting himself enough to think fast, Rayf pulled out a Poké Ball and silently released Amanita, trying not to draw the mutated Vulpix's attention from its current corpse.

"Spore, Amanita! Put it to sleep!"

The Parasect began spraying a stream of fine golden dust which drifted in a mass over to where the beast still slashed at Prof. Shiare's lifeless body. As the cloud enveloped it, it raised its head, alert to the strange substance it had inhaled. It turned around and walked a few lethargic steps toward the Parasect, but then collapsed on its side, put into a deep sleep.

As soon as the Spore cloud subsided, Iris and Raili ran to Gwyn to see how serious his wounds were.

Sean stared at the mutated Vulpix from a distance, unsure if it was safe to approach.

"You may have put it to sleep, but NOW what?" Sean asked Rayf.

Rayf looked troubled, trying to think of what to do next.

Staring at the slumbering beast before them and trying to think, Sean and Rayf were startled as it began to change again. The Pokémon's body was subtly shrinking, its limbs, claws, and teeth shortening in a transformation that was almost seamless. After about a minute, it was once again a perfectly normal-looking Vulpix.

"Well, it's good that it reverted back," Sean granted. "But what do we do the NEXT time it transforms?"

"Mmmm..." Rayf continued to think. Then an idea struck him. "... Hey...! Okay, this is just a guess, but maybe if we exposed it to an ordinary, unaltered Fire Stone, it would evolve permanently into a healthy Ninetales! Might stabilize its genetic structure or something, you know...?"

"It'd be worth a try," Sean said. "But where do we get a Fire Stone fast? It might change again before then..."

"Well if that woman really used COMPOUNDS from a Fire Stone like she said, then she SHOULD have at least one NORMAL Fire Stone stashed away somewhere around here, right?" Rayf reasoned.

"You'd think so," Sean agreed. "Guess we should start looking."

Rayf looked over at the instrumentation against the wall.

"Let's check the compartments below that control console over there."

The two of them ran over to the console to begin searching.

A short distance away, Iris and Raili were distracted with their own crisis.

"We need to stop his bleeding," Iris told Raili urgently as they both kneeled

over Gwyn, who was now lying in a puddle of his own blood.

"Here," Raili said as she lifted her sweater over her shirt and handed it to Iris, now only wearing a sleevless top which had been wearing underneath it. "You can tie it around his wound."

"Thanks," Iris took the sweater and began tying it around Gwyn's torso while Raili held him up.

"Rayf! Look at this!" Sean exclaimed as he was rumaging through a drawer underneath the control console. He held up a deep ruby colored gem that looked as if it blazed from the inside.

Rayf looked up from his searching in amazed relief. "Outstanding! Now let's go try it out!"

Sean rushed the Fire Stone over to the sleeping Vulpix with Rayf, kneeling warily by its side.

"I've never used one of these evolution stones before," Sean held the stone nervously. "You just touch it to the Pokémon, right?"

Rayf nodded encouragingly. "Go ahead, Sean."

Sean slowly brought the stone to a rest against the Vulpix's fur. For a few seconds, nothing happened. But then, the stone began emitting a bright glow from its center, as if a fire had been ignited inside it.

A change began.

The first thing they noticed was that the Vulpix's fur was gradually growing paler and longer, especially on its head and chest. Its tails, limbs, and snout also began elongating into the graceful, lean features of a Ninetales, but this time without any unnaturally long claws or teeth. Finally, three new tails split off of the original six, creating a luxuriously voluminous bouquet which trailed behind it. Its red fur had now changed to a rich milky white.

Rayf put a hand on Sean's shoulder.

"How do we know if it's going to be okay, now?" Sean asked quietly.

"Only time will tell," Rayf answered. "Why don't you capture it and take it with us? It needs someone to nurture it and calm its nerves after all that it's been put through... and it DID jump into YOUR arms when we first met it... I can't think of anyone better."

Sean just smiled faintly at Rayf and then looked at the newly evolved Ninetales.

"You're right," he said tenderly.

He began digging an empty Poké Ball out of his pocket. Then he only gently touched it against the Ninetales's side, causing the Poké Ball open, envelope it in red energy, and suck it inside. The exhausted Pokémon was unable to make any resistance even if it had wanted to, and the Poké Ball soon chimed to indicate a successful capture.

"Know what you're going to call him?" Rayf asked.

Sean thought for a moment, and then smiled a little.

"... Weiku."

"Looks like we're ready to get OUT of this damned place," Iris remarked from behind them, Gwyn bandaged and once again suspended over her shoulder. She and Raili had watched the fox Pokémon's miraculous transformation and capture after they had finished with Gwyn.

Sean and Rayf stood up wearily to face them. Preoccupied with the Vulpix, they had almost forgotten about the odd-looking old frined Iris had brought with her. They both felt a bit unsure about how to ask Iris about the strange, spiny figure with violet skin and green hair.

"So... you're taking him with us?" Rayf asked hesitantly gesturing toward Gwyn.

"Well I'm sure as hell not leaving him HERE," Iris said a bit moodily.

"Iris..." Sean tried to think of what he wanted to say. "What—"

"This ISN'T the place to have a discussion," she interrupted him. "Come on! I can't stand to stay in this creepy hole any longer!"

Everyone silently agreed and, after one last look at the bloody aftermath of the ordeal they had somehow survived, solemnly followed behind Iris as she led the way out.

* * *

Chapter 18

Dispersal

Murky rays of sunlight filtered through the early morning mist and the dense foliage and trees, shining gently in patches on the forest floor where Sean was sprawled out asleep. Rayf was also asleep, partly propped up against a large tree trunk a few feet away.

After hurriedly escaping the lab facility the night before, the group had made their way back to the forest they had traveled through on their way there. Because it had been so late in the day at that point and everyone had been so physically and mentally exhausted, they had opted to find a safe-looking clearing in the woods where they could rest for a while. However, they were so tired that they inadvertently ended up sleeping though the entire night.

"GWYN'S GONE!"

Sean and Rayf were startled awake by Iris's shouting. Their backsides damp and cold from the moisture of the lush forest floor, they sat up in alarm to see Iris standing across from them and looking around frantically. Raili had also been woken up and was groggily looking from place to place.

"How can he be gone?" Sean asked rubbing his eyes. "He was just near-fatally wounded less than 24 hours ago!"

"I don't know how... but he IS!" Iris restated in panic. "I had him RIGHT next to me when we dozed off, and now there's no trace of him!"

Rayf looked like he was thinking about something profound. "The way he moved when he was fending off that Vulpix yesterday... with reflexes and speed like THAT, I wonder if he also has enhanced REGENERATIVE abilities..."

Raili was silent, staring solemnly into the distance with sad eyes.

"We have to find him!" Iris was terribly upset.

"But he probably left hours ago, in the middle of the night," Raili spoke in a distant voice. "He's likely too far away to find by now..."

"And what if he doesn't WANT to be found?" Sean asked in an unsettling tone. As a physically NORMAL person who had been reclusive and alienated to so many people around him for most of his life, it occurred to him how much someone as different-looking as GWYN might have been inclined to feel alone and seek seclusion.

Mentally drained from the previous day's events, no one could think of anything else to say about the strange and unexpected disappearance they had been awakened to.

Iris looked up through the forest canopy at the reddening sky with worried eyes, wondering with deep concern about both the past and future fates of her childhood friend.

"... Gwyn..."

... The end...?


End file.
